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The message from London's police last night was clear: after three days of rioting, local people needed to stay at home and off the streets so they could do their jobs. But not everyone is listening, at least when it comes to picking up the pieces. Groups of people have taken to Twitter to organize clean-ups in the areas worst hit by rioters in the last three days in areas to the north, south, east and west of London.

The Twitter account @RiotCleanup has taken on more than 48,000 followers after setting up just seven hours ago and has been posting locations and times for people to meet up to clean, urging them to bring heavy duty sacks for glass and heavy objects, gardening, and rubber gloves. This morning supporters were due to meet at 10am in Camberwell, South London by St. Giles Church and outside East Croydon Station, where a devastating fire brought down a large, family-run furniture store last night.

Londoners gather in solidarity in Hackney; photo via @RiotCleanup

The initiative offers locals a chance to confront the powerlessness they may feel about remedying a chaotic situation, and tap into the getting-on-with-it spirit of Londoners made famous by the city's reaction to the Blitz in World War II. The idea is, throw anything at Britain's capital and locals will handle it with aplomb and some irreverence. The @RiotCleanup Twitter feed has for instance spawned the hashtag #riotwombles, referring to anyone helping with the cleanup and referencing an old Children's television show about giant furry creatures. Rioters reportedly used social media tools like Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger to encourage more violence; now locals were using similar tools to clear up their mess.

The account holder to @RiotClean claims to have been calling police ahead of designated cleanups to check each of the suggested locations are not crime scenes. Volunteers should know simply by the police tape that has gone up around certain affected areas, a spokesperson for London's Metropolitan Police said. "But we wouldn't discourage it," he added.

Last night the Met's assistance commissioner called for people not to congregate near the scenes of rioting so that police could more effectively deal with troublemakers and to stay at home. That's not the case now. "These pieces of advice are given based on what is occurring at a given time," the spokesman said.

The Met said this morning that last night was "the worst [it had] seen in current memory for unacceptable levels of widespread looting, fires and disorder." So far there have been 334 arrests in connection with the riots, 69 charged, and in the next 24 hours there will be 13,000 police officers on duty in London.

@Riotcleanup has meanwhile been encouraging any local businesses to get in contact if a cleanup is needed. So far, though, it looks like there is less work to do that organizers had expected. Hackney and Lewisham are both said to be "pretty cleaned up by now," @RiotCleanup tweeted. At least they can say that if rioters take to the streets again, locals will be ready.